Klopp: I couldn't wait to work with Firmino
Jürgen Klopp has paid tribute to Roberto Firmino and revealed that he was looking forward to working with the Brazilian as soon as he knew he would be joining him at Anfield.
Firmino left Hoffenheim in the summer of 2015 in order to make the move to Merseyside, four months prior to a manager who had always admired him in the Bundesliga doing the same.
The 25-year-old endured a slow start to life in the Premier League but netted his first goal for the club shortly after Klopp's arrival and ended the campaign as a key man in attack, netting 12 goals in total.
That fact came as no surprise to the boss, who says he knew exactly what he was getting when he inherited a squad containing Firmino.
"When I knew I was coming here I knew I had a good player – I was looking forward to working with him very much," he said.
"He is happy... so he doesn’t care about getting more credit or recognition. Of course he is very important because he can play these positions all three positions in our system, and in our system I’m sure he could play the eight too.
"He is different, but he can play there. He is a very important player, a connecting player, a finisher, a fighter, a defender, the first defender – that is important. A lot of things he is good at are very important for us.
"He’s still a good listener, and a good trainer. He likes to train he likes to learn, so that is excellent, a nice package."
FREE: Watch Jürgen Klopp's cheeky nutmeg on Roberto Firmino
The Reds moved swiftly and decisively to secure Firmino's signature early on during the transfer window, seeing off any potential competition in the process.
But Klopp admitted he was surprised other clubs did not do more to rival Liverpool for such a talented player.
"Nobody asked me about him, but yes, he was a player I thought was one of the best in the Bundesliga," he continued.
"So when I saw that Liverpool had signed him I thought, ‘How could Liverpool do this?’ They were not in their 100 per cent best moment and other clubs would have spent more on him, so I thought, immediately, 'What a good transfer for them'.
"When I heard about it I thought they had made a good signing, because I felt I pretty sure clubs would have paid a lot more for him."
The German also hailed the work of the club's scouting department in recognising the quality of a player who was not playing for one of Europe's more prominent teams.
"I can see in the Premier League you can not have the perfect overview of the Bundesliga, and in the Bundesliga you cannot have the perfect overview of the Premier League," he explained.
"So you can know the Champions League and the players who are top class, but around there are so many good players you cannot know, only if you watch each game at the weekend.
"That is normal, and a lot of people thought Hoffenheim, where is this, that is a lot of money. In Germany some people don’t know where it is, but if you play your football there, then you feel it is a tough place and so you know what a decent job the scout did, whoever brought him in for that price."